Drive at Kalyanpur hideout
Police hunt 9 more militants
Guardians of two still
confused over identity
Police identify the eighth
militant as Raihan Kabir
Apart from the nine slain militants and the one captured alive, police suspect nine more people were carrying out militant activities from the hideout at Kalyanpur in the capital where joint forces conducted a drive early Tuesday.
Police yesterday named those absconding suspects and the captured militant in a case filed under the Anti-terrorism Act in connection with the Tuesdays overnight drive. The nine absconding accused are Iqbal, Tamim Chowdhury, Ripan, Khalid, Mamun, Manik, Jonayed Khan, Badal and Azadul aias Kabiraj. According to police sources, several of their teams are currently conducting drives to trace the nine. Hasan, who was captured wounded during the operation, is undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) in police custody. Iqbal and arrested Hasan jumped from the building during the drive at Kalyanpur but only Iqbal managed
to escape. Inspector (Operation) of Mirpur Model Police Station Mohammad Shahjalal filed the case with the police station under the Anti-terrorism Act 2009 early yesterday, two days after the incident.
Contacted, Inspector (Investigation) Sajjad Hossain, who was made investigation officer of the case, said apart from Hasan and Iqbal, the names of other eight accused were revealed
by Hasan while being interrogated at the DMCH. The accused reportedly frequented the rented apartment at Kalyanpur, and were involved in militancy activities in various ways, he said.
In another development, a Dhaka court placed four people who were arrested from the building on Tuesday, on a two-day remand for interrogation yesterday.
Metropolitan magistrate Nurun Nahar Yasmin passed the order after sub-inspector Bazlur Rahman of Mirpur Police Station produced them before the court seeking a five-day remand after showing them arrested under section 54 of the CrPC.
Those remanded are Mazharul Islam, Mahfujul Alam, Mominuddin and Jakir Hossain.
Meanwhile, Towhid Rouf, father of Shahzad Rouf, allegedly one of the militants killed during Tuesdays raid in the capital, is still in denial mode that his son was a militant and had been killed in the police encounter on that day.
I cant accept the police claim that my son was a militant, who had been
killed during Tuesdays raid. Im still confused about the identity of the dead militant. I couldnt be sure if it was the body of my son when I looked at the faces of militants at the DMCH morgue on Wednesday, said Towhid Rouf, while talking to this correspondent yesterday over phone.
He, however, said everything would be clear after the DNA test of Arka, the name given to the dead militant by the police.
A person cant be identified solely through a national identity card. Police are now tagging a person with someones name, which is very disgusting. My sons name isnt Arka. His name is Shahzad Rouf. Yes, he has been missing from February this year, but that doesnt mean that he has become a militant, he said.
Towhid Rouf also rubbished a report published by The Telegraph, a Calcutta- based Indian daily, which quoted an anonymous family member as having said that Shahzads family members are US citizens and Shahzads father is a millionaire who supplies crowd-control gadgets and defence products to security forces in Bangladesh. The report also says that Shahzads grandfather was a senior defence official.
When this correspondent drew Towhid Roufs attention to the report, he said, Its baseless! Its true that I have a business in defence-related products, but Im not a millionaire. Im just an ordinary person. Sources said Shahzad Rouf, an MBA student of North South University (NSU), was a fun-loving boy, who loved playing musical instruments.
According to The Telegraph, family members of Shahzad Rouf identified him after Bangladesh police uploaded the photographs on their Facebook page.
I still remember a family gathering in January this year, where he sang Anjan Dutts song Chakri-ta ami peye gechhi Bela shunnchho (I have got the job, Bela), The Telegraph quoted a family member of Shahzad Rouf as having said.
The family was in Chicago... but returned after Shazads mother was diagnosed with cancer. After coming back, Shazad studied in American International School in Dhaka and did his International Baccalaureate. Then, he did his BBA and was studying MBA at North South University, said the family member.
The family has a liberal background.... They would host parties at home where people would come and sing, he said. Shazads mother died in 2009. Since then, he started praying five times a day.... But we never thought that he would become a terrorist, the relative added.
Meanwhile, relatives of Taj-Ul-Haque Rashik failed to confirm whether one of the dead militants was Rashik or not. The Independent went to House no. 72 of Dhanmondi 11A to talk to Rashiks parents. They, however, refused to talk to any media organisation.
Alamgir Hossain, manager of the building, told The Independent that Rasiks father is very sick. He has been sick for the past five months since his son went missing, he added.
Hossain also said that he has been working at the building for seven months. I saw Rashik for a few times.
But he went missing since the last five months. About Rashiks family, Hossain said that his father has a business in the UK and has another son. Rashik was his younger son. His elder brother lives with his parents here, he informed this correspondent.
Meanwhile, the security guard of a building opposite House No. 72 told The Independent that he is certain that Rashik was one of the dead militants after having seen their photos, which were released by the police.
Earlier, police identified the eighth militant killed in the Dhaka raid as a missing youth from Rangpur, who trained the Gulshan caf attackers and was the acting chief of the group in the capital. He is said to be one Raihan Kabir, son of Shahjahan Kabir from Rangpurs Pirgachha. Following this, only one other militant among the nine killed in the Dhaka raid remains to be identified. He was one of the trainers of the Gulshan attackers, said Monirul Islam, chief of the Dhaka polices Anti-Terrorism and Transnational Crimes unit, at a press briefing yesterday morning. The cousin of a missing person yesterday visited the mortuary, but could not identify any of the bodies of militants. Dr Sohel Mahmud, assistant professor of the forensic medicine department of DMC, said the cousin of a missing person came to the morgue, along with counter-terrorism personnel, to identify his cousin. But he couldnt identify any body and left the mortuary, he added. Meanwhile, one of the suspected militants killed in the Kalyanpur raid was the grandson of former provincial governor of East Pakistan Abdul Monem Khan.
Alleged militant Aqifuzzaman Khan, a North South University student, was the grandson of Monem Khan, according to the police. Monem Khan was in-charge of governor of then East Pakistan during 1962-69.
